Filip Lenczycki
Republican lawmakers called on the Biden administration to launch an investigation into a Chinese civic association with ties to the New York Democratic congresswoman, according to a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Robert Wittman of Virginia and Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York have called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate the New York-based Henan Association of Eastern America (HAEA) as an “overseas mission,” citing “her recent noted leadership role in Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led influence operations against U.S. officials,” According to literally. Lawmakers also asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate current and former HAEA leaders, including New York Democratic Rep. Grace Meng, who was named as “deputy chairwoman” before launching her 2012 congressional campaign.
“The future Democratic congresswoman opened the door to the CCP with the help of the United Front, the CCP’s operations influencing foreign markets,” Banks, a member of the House Select Committee on the CCP, told DCNF. “Groups like the Henan Association can no longer be allowed to wage political war against the United States on our soil.”
“The Department of State must designate the Henan Association as a foreign mission,” the letter reads. “Under the Foreign Missions Act, an organization should be designated by the Department of State as a “foreign mission” if the entity engages in the activities of a foreign government or is “substantially owned or effectively controlled by a foreign government.”
Most recently, federal prosecutors accused Meng’s former congressional campaign director, Linda Sun, and her husband, Chris Hu, for allegedly acting as unregistered agents of China while Sun worked for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Then the Wall Street Journal. reported Sun met with “heads of key groups identified in the indictment as affiliated with the United Front,” naming HAEA and another New York-based Chinese association.
The so-called “One Front” strategy is “a unique combination of engagement, influence, and intelligence operations that the CCP uses to shape its political environment, including influencing other countries’ policies toward the PRC and gaining access to advanced technologies,” According to to the 2023 report of the House Select Committee on the CPC.
The work of the United Front is carried out “through an extensive and well-documented network of organizations operating in parallel with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the intelligence services, aimed at influencing universities, think tanks, civic groups, other prominent individuals and institutions, and the wider understood public opinion,” we read in the House committee report.
“Sun allegedly used the Henan Association as her intermediary to conduct official business with and receive guidance from PRC officials,” the lawmakers said in their letter. “Leader Henan Named as One of Unindicted Co-Conspirators in Sun Agents’ Activities.”
Formerly WSJ identified HAEA president Zhang Fuyin as one of Sun’s two alleged co-conspirators. Meng’s longtime congressional staffer, Sydney Li, who is vice chairman of the HAEA, also cooperated with CCP officials and Chinese intelligence personnel, according to the WSJ.
The WSJ reported that during a 2019 trip to China, Li personally delivered a letter from Meng to a CCP intelligence official along with Zhang, and the DCNF identified in four additional cases, Li sent letters on Meng’s behalf to CCP intelligence or Propaganda Department staff.
In their letter, lawmakers also asked the State Department to “review all local city associations similarly associated with United Front activities for potential designation as foreign missions.”
“Outposts of our Chinese enemy should not be allowed into our country, but if they must be here, we must require them to register,” Gordon Chang, a China expert and author, told DCNF.
The letter sent Wednesday also presses the Department of Justice to “investigate all current and former leaders and associates of the Henan Association for potential FARA violations and prosecute any offenders accordingly.”
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) “requires certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified in the Act to periodically make public information about their affiliation with the foreign principal, as well as about their activities, receipts and expenses.” in support of these activities, According to to the Department of Justice.
From 2008 to 2012, HAEA named Meng as its “vice chair” but began listing her as “honorary chair” in February 2012, a month before the launch of its campaign for Congress, DCNF reported. Meng’s photo was observable displayed at the top of the HAEA home page for over ten years, next to the organization’s chairman and president, until the entire website was deleted on September 26, following DCNF reports about her long-time involvement with the group.
Recently WSJ reported Meng has denied ever holding any official position at HAEA, claiming she only holds an “honorary title” despite a 2008 video in which she identified herself as “deputy chairwoman of HAEA”.
TO WATCH@RepGraceMeng he said @WSJ had no official role in the Henan Association of Eastern American (HAEA), claims it was an “honorary title”
Meng also claims she “doesn’t remember” a 2008 video in which she identifies herself as “HAEA deputy chairwoman,” to which I added subtitles pic.twitter.com/LOIlh4JbtK— Philip Lenczycki 蔡岳 (@LenczyckiPhilip) October 23, 2024
Meng attended more than a dozen events with HAEA leaders welcoming various CCP delegations to New York, during which she toasted CCP intelligence personnel, presented Congressional commendations to Communist Party leaders, and received several gifts, DCNF reportedwith perhaps the last case occurring in March 2024.
These interactions date back to at least 2008, the DCNF foundand Meng’s attendance at a December 2008 welcome banquet in Queens, New York, for the chairman of the All-China Federation of Overseas Returned Chinese (ACFROC), whom Meng called “our chairman” and praised for his “leadership,” footage shows .
The Department of Justice has characterized ACFROC as an “agency” a Chinese intelligence called the United Front Work Department (UFWD).
🚨WATCH @RepGraceMeng praise the head of the CCP intelligence agency🚨by @DailyCaller
“… I especially welcome our President Lin! …grateful to President Lin for taking care of us – I really need your leadership!”
Any member of Congress cooperating with the CCP United Front ‘must resign’ – @RepJimBanks pic.twitter.com/x9cURKwuiA
— Philip Lenczycki 蔡岳 (@LenczyckiPhilip) September 9, 2024
Department of Justice too claims that ACFROC hired Meng’s former campaign director Sun as its “committee member” in September 2019.
Many of HAEA’s leaders, including its president Zhang and the organization’s chairman, are members of ACFROC, DCNF outdoor.
“The Biden-Harris Justice Department must force foreign influence groups to register with FARA, and groups like the Henan Association should be classified as China’s foreign missions,” Banks told the DCNF.
Meng and HAEA did not respond to DCNF’s request for comment.
– – –
Philip Lenczycki is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
